Experimental validation of the UPM computer code to calculate wind turbine wakes and comparison with other models

Abstract The UPM Computer Code to calculate wind turbine wakes is applied to test cases, both in wind tunnel and in field experiments with full scale machines, in order to validate the model used in the code. In the UPM model the wake of the wind turbine is supposed to be immersed in a non-uniform air stream corresponding to the atmospheric boundary layer. The turbulent transport coefficients are modelled by the k-ϵ method. Relevant parameters describing the process are wind velocity at turbine height, ground roughness, atmospheric stability, turbine dimensions and initial momentum deficit. The wind tunnel measurements correspond to experiments carried out at TNO. The full scale experiments chosen for comparison are those from Nibe wind turbines in Denmark. The results of the UPM Code are also compared with those obtained with other simpler models.